Stories for August 1st 2017

By Mike Gapes (*) For the future security and stability of our country, our continent and the world this is the worst possible moment for the UK to be leaving the European Union. Unfortunately, we are planning to leave our European partners at a time when there is going to be less and less agreement amongst the most important countries about how to deal with current and emerging global problems.

An estimated twenty European Union countries are expected to submit bids to provide a new home for two agencies that will be relocated from the UK after Brexit. The European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), based in Canary Wharf in London, employ just over 1,000 staff between them.

Facebook was forced to shut down one of its artificial intelligence systems after researchers discovered that it had started communicating in a language that they could not understand. The incident evokes images of the rise of Skynet in the iconic Terminator series. Perhaps Tesla CEO Elon Musk is right about AI being the biggest risk we face.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on Monday on Venezuela’s government to take urgent action to stop the division in society following Sunday's the Constituent Assembly vote. Venezuela stands on the brink of disaster and Nicholas Maduro’s government must stop before it is too late. The country is turning on itself – more than 100 have died already – and democracy and basic rights are in jeopardy, said Boris Johnson.

The Falkland Islands Government has announced the on-line publication of the laws of the Falkland Islands. A public demonstration of the on-line Statute Law Database will take place in Stanley at the Court and Council Chamber at 5.30pm on Wednesday 2 August 2017. Members of the public may also access a paper copy of the Statute Law Database through the public library.

A three-day strike by Bank of England support staff will go ahead after talks at the conciliation service Acas ended without agreement, the Unite union said. Employees are unhappy about a below inflation pay rise of 1% and protestors are planning to gather outside the Bank of England building wearing masks of Governor Mark Carney.

Suggestions that freedom of movement will continue after the United Kingdom leaves the EU are wrong, Downing Street has said. Last Friday, Chancellor Philip Hammond warned full controls could take “some time”, prompting speculation free movement may continue in all but name after the UK leaves in March 2019.

Argentina's Peso rose against the dollar on Monday for the first time in two weeks, after the central bank intervened in the foreign exchange markets on Friday to halt the currency's rapid decline to historic lows, when it reached 18 Pesos.

United States has imposed sanctions on Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, over what it called his illegitimate election of an assembly to rewrite the constitution. All of Maduro's assets in the United States are frozen and Americans are forbidden from doing any business with him.

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has unveiled a series of new commercial agreements with Brazil on Monday, on day one of his visit to showcase British business and deepen trade and economic ties with South America’s biggest economies. Among the measures has been doubling support to £3 billion, to promote bilateral trade.